Hi all, recently I was playing with some stuff on my car and realized just what all the different modes and settings do and it made me think about all the different options for racing there are.

My car is 100% stock (even the paper filter), my last car wasnt, and I know a lot about cars, have done tons of mechanic work, my dad and I built his big block 496 '79 Z28.

But I didnt start to understand racing till recently. I have the auto, and have never driven a standard, so I never thought about shifting until I realized that downshifting into a lower gear puts the engine into a higher range where it makes its peak power, etc.

So I just wanted a discussion on what settings/ techniques to use where.

-At the drag strip, turn all TC and Stabilitrak off or just competitive mode? As for shifting, sport mode? Or paddle shifters? And why not paddle shifters? Does sport mode hold to red line?

Launching just hold the gas all the way down and the brake as lightly as possible?

-For road racing, do you just let the car shift, or is letting the car go just before red line every time taking the most advantage of the power.

Are any of the gears better than the others due to some ratio or other measurement I dont understand?

-Should all traction control and stabilitrak be off for drifting?

Im a noob when it comes to racing, and I feel like Ive held my own in races ive been in, but I know I could be better. Sorry for the book, but hopefully we can have some good discussions for inexperienced people like me.
Feel free to post things youve learned not to do as well.

until you get more experience turn off traction control but leave on stabillitrac. for all instances. when you get better, you will start wanting to turn it all the way off. just keep in mind stabillitrac is active almost the entire time when i take a car around a track. when you turn it off, it walks fast!
as for the shifting, just do what you feel comfortable. you cant really go wrong there. the tranny shifts at the right times all by themselves.\Should all traction control and stabilitrak be off for drifting?
because you asked this question, BE CAREFUL!!!
but it can be fun ON A COURSE

torque management is a computer setting to allow smoother shifts. nothing to do with launch.

until you get more experience turn off traction control but leave on stabillitrac. for all instances. when you get better, you will start wanting to turn it all the way off. just keep in mind stabillitrac is active almost the entire time when i take a car around a track. when you turn it off, it walks fast!
as for the shifting, just do what you feel comfortable. you cant really go wrong there. the tranny shifts at the right times all by themselves.\Should all traction control and stabilitrak be off for drifting?
because you asked this question, BE CAREFUL!!!
but it can be fun ON A COURSE

torque management is a computer setting to allow smoother shifts. nothing to do with launch.

Cool, thanks!

As for torque management, I may be calling it the wrong thing, I believe that only 2012s have it, but it doest allow the engine to get over 1500 or something RPMs while the brake is pressed

As for drag racing you want to turn off both traction control and stabilitrac by holding the button down for 7 seconds, you will see the light in your DIC come on showing they are off. Then just pull up to the staging area and go around any water box they might have set up, spin the stock perellis up just to clean them off and warm them up a little. Stage your car at the line , rev it up to about 1500 rpm with your foot on the brake enough to hold it in place , watch the lights and when the third yellow comes on mash the accelerator to the floor and let er rip. If they are using a pro tree watch the lights and when all three light up mash the accelerator and let er rip. Dont wait to see the green light or else it will be too late already for a good reaction time.
Lastly we cant talk about street racing at all or else we will get in trouble with the mods. Hope this helps a little

As for drag racing you want to turn off both traction control and stabilitrac by holding the button down for 7 seconds, you will see the light in your DIC come on showing they are off. Then just pull up to the staging area and go around any water box they might have set up, spin the stock perellis up just to clean them off and warm them up a little. Stage your car at the line , rev it up to about 1500 rpm with your foot on the brake enough to hold it in place , watch the lights and when the third yellow comes on mash the accelerator to the floor and let er rip. If they are using a pro tree watch the lights and when all three light up mash the accelerator and let er rip. Dont wait to see the green light or else it will be too late already for a good reaction time.
Lastly we cant talk about street racing at all or else we will get in trouble with the mods. Hope this helps a little

Thanks, I didnt know if 1500 was optimum, figured it might be a bit higher. I didnt mean street racing haha! I meant road course racing